ODST: Aftermath
by Skarfly
Summary: Daniels and his best friends, Harvest and Young, have awoken in a familiar place, but this isn't the Equestria they knew. The Covenant have been preparing for their arrival, and the Prophet of Carnage is happy to host.
1. A rude awakening

The grass was cold, pain was coursing through every limb and organ in his body, he could feel the air coming in and out of his lungs Slowly, the memories began to return, his identity, his rank, his name He is Lieutenant Joseph Daniels of the UNSC Scavenger, leader of the Delta Squadron and defender of magical pastel horses His mind paused, magical pastel horses? As it began to piece together the memories came in snaps, the Artifact, the Covenant, Morris and Qualomee, the crash; everything was here now His eyes flew open, his mission timer stated he'd been out for five hours, but five hours didn't turn autumn into early spring Adrenaline forced its way through his veins, he had to check the area His body responded a lot faster than his mind did, as he rose he could see two other forms laying on the ground Right, Harvest and Young were here too. The wreckage of the Phantom sat, rusted and old "Hang on…Rusted?" Daniels' voice came out scratchy, but upon inspection the phantom was not five hours after Harvest was sitting up now, holding his head, helmet on the ground next to him "I can't believe there was a way in Hell that worked." Young rolled over onto her back, "Can we go back to sleep for five minutes?" "Not until we're sure of the situation" Daniels asserted, despite how wonderful sleep sounded "Our armor is as good as gone by now" Harvest observed, looking at Young Daniels looked his suit over, shoulder pads and knee pads dented or outright missing, the chest piece was gone and his VISR was shattered He looked at his weapons, just a rifle for each of them, ammo was limited, this was not good Daniels picked the assault rifle, Harvest grabbed the DMR and Young took the Battle Rifle "We should get back to the Scavenger" Daniels looked around, then looked up, "Jesus Christ." The reaction was well stated, they were inside of a Spire Shield, Covenant technology "It wasn't five hours…" Young said bluntly […] A lone Brute Chieftain strutted through the purple corridors, moving quickly, not at all burdened by the information carried Upon reaching the main chamber he found that the Prophet of Carnage was waiting for him, eager to hear the news The Chieftain kneeled, showing his respect "Great Prophet, the populace is now subjugated." "Perfect, I understand that the Artifact will render a flare of energy upon return." The Brute nodded, "I have taken the liberty of setting the alarm to your personal quarters, you will be the first to know." "I approve of your plans, I am sure you will be pleased to hear that you are to be leading the hunt for the artifact?" Carnage let its claw rest on the arm of its chair The Brute smiled, or whatever it was that passed for a grin in his species, before turning and leaving Carnage sat still for a few moments, plotting what was to be done with the ones who had taken the Artifact from him, surely it would involve pain of excruciating degree A small light began to flash on the arm of his chair, turning to see it the Prophet was pleased "It appears the hunt will begin sooner than expected." […] "Alright, let's not panic." Daniels said, "The Scavenger is still inside the shield, we should be able to get armored up before we try to take the Spire." "Then let's get out of this clearing" Young looked around, "It won't take the Covenant long to find out we're back." Harvest clicked a new magazine into his DMR, "Next stop, anywhere but here." The walk to Ponyville gave them time to ponder what had happened, and how long it had taken for these events to transpire "Accessing…UNSC Databanks…" Tatyana's voice weakly chirped in the damaged COMM systems of Daniels' helmet "Good to see we're not without UNSC intelligence here." Harvest said, "But we need to fix the helmet before you try to use the COMMs to talk." Daniels looked to his right and saw a small cottage, the empty birdhouses and henhouse on the outside signified this to be the home of Fluttershy, however the pegasus was not in sight "Let's see if we can find some supplies in there" Daniels suggested, "If we're lucky we might find something to eat." As the trio approached the shadows inside the small home moved, out of some form of habit Harvest knocked Unexpectedly, the door actually opened, revealing a rather unkempt Fluttershy, while Harvest didn't flinch Daniels stiffened, something was wrong with her, he could see it Instead of speaking, the yellow pony simply turned around and walked inside, allowing the trio to enter The interior of the cottage wasn't well kept at all, as there were strange stains on the walls, smashed and broken items strewn about the floors, only the candle on the coffee table was lit The way she moved was off, it was maddeningly familiar yet he couldn't yet tell what had happened, but it had to have been crippling Fluttershy sat down, looked over the ODSTs and picked up a cold cup of tea, "You're the first to knock." Not a stutter, not even a quiet tone, she sounded tired; as if she'd been through this before "What happened here?" Young got to the point, "This place was demolished." Fluttershy nodded slowly, "Seven years." "There's no way we were gone for seven years." Harvest asserted, "That can't happen, can it?" It dawned on Daniels, "You're saying you've seen us come in before?" Fluttershy frowned, nodding again, "Seven years." 'Seven years again…' Daniels stopped, "I think I'm starting to get it now." "What's wrong?" Young looked puzzled "Fluttershy's cottage is right next to the crash site" the ODST explained, "That means she must've been here for when the Phantom hit." "How that must've felt" Harvest understood, "She was there when we 'died'." "What we're seeing here is Fluttershy telling us that she's been…" Daniels took a deep breath, ready to break the news, "After seeing that, it must've been traumatic. That means that she's been seeing hallucinations of us." "'You're the first to knock'" Harvest repeated "They're going to be looking for you" Fluttershy warned, "If that's okay, I mean…" Daniels looked at the pegasus, "Thanks for the help, we'll be going now." Daniels motioned for the squad to vacate, and they came out into the fields The path to town was straightforward, and without any updated maps they had no choice but to follow the road […] She watched them leave, the way they all left. Something was different about them, they seemed much more current than the others Maybe… but that was impossible, they've been dead for seven years They weren't the only ones Despite these facts she couldn't help but follow them, at a distance as to not startle them She saw them first, the group of armored vultures, here to feast […] "You know she's following us right?" Harvest asked "It shouldn't matter" Young said, "Heads up, we've got bogeys." What descended upon the trio of troopers wasn't anything they'd seen before, three equines wearing purple armor stood before them "Of course, Covenant Equestrians." Harvest held up his rifle "Hand over the Artifact and make this real easy on yourselves." The one in front said, his armor laced with golden veins obscured any real defining properties Daniels just eased into a combat position, "That's not going to happen" The troopers formed a triangle, rifles facing outward, the scouting squad did the same. A stalemate ensued, neither team moving, until the pegasus leader struck Plasma threatened to envelop the ODST, Daniels put his forearms out to protect himself, the Titanium-A bubbling and melting at the touch Gritting his teeth to avoid a cry of shock and pain, he lashed out with his boot, striking the advancing adversary in the throat As Harvest and Young broke off to fight the other two pegasi, Daniels and the scout leader squared off "The little dog with the nasty bite" it taunted Ignoring the jeering Daniels placed his rifle on the ground, prompting the scout leader to do the same, as he held up his gauntlets the pair began to circle one another As the scout captain lashed out full-force Daniels ducked and swept his boot under the equine's legs, knocking the shocked pony to the ground The ODST brought his boot down on the equine's skull, splattering blood over his armor. He hadn't noticed blood at first, likely because killing the Covenant was something he was so used to; however this time the blood was red. […] Harvest rolled backwards, snapping his rifle and scoring a shot into the visor of the nameless pegasus, watching out of the corner of his eye as Daniels began to take down the leader Young had jumped on the back of the last pegasus, tearing the wing out of its back, the screams of pain resounded, before Young delivered a battle rifle shot to the temple Harvest stood up and brushed the dust off of his armor, "Let's get some burn cream on that plasma burn then eh?" Daniels removed the wrist armor, but when he observed the forearm he found that he wasn't burned, instead there was some rather old plasma scarring "Are you sure you got burned?" Young asked "Yeah, right here." Daniels gestured to his forearms, "But this plasma scarring is several years old, at least." Harvest looked at his best friend, "I don't think our trip was cost-free." 


	2. Understanding

Chapter 2

Carnage looked disapprovingly at the now blank screen, the three lights that had been on prior showed his squad of Equines that he sent to investigate the crash site, they weren't supposed to engage anything

It appears as if they had

"They never follow directions do they?" he turned to face another screen, "Captain, what is it?"

The brute snapped to attention, "The Bastion has yet to fall"

"I ordered wraiths there hours ago"

"Not even the wraiths can break through the shields" the brute looked behind him, "I think they're still doing hit and runs, these new forces are weak; I shall have to whip them"

"See to it that the Bastion falls." Carnage looked back to the other monitor, "Soon humans, soon you shall see…"

[…]

The _Scavenger_ was still in the field, looking much older and broken down than when they'd left it

Daniels looked at the massive form of the _Scavenger_, the plasma scarring old and worn, vegetation growing on the sides

Harvest looked a poster on a stake not too far off the path, "_'Support the Covenant, volunteer to take down the Bastion'_?"

"The Bastion?" Young looked at Daniels

Daniels shrugged, "Right now it's not our problem, we've got too much to deal with."

There were many ways into a UNSC vessel, one such way was to crawl through the defunct engines and hope to find the engine room

"Better now than never" Harvest said, "After you."

"Our armor's going to smell like oil for weeks" Young said, before following Daniels

After a particularly long and grimy climb through engine shafts Daniels found an exhaust pipe large enough to squeeze through, before pummeling the grating off; allowing them to exit

The engine rooms were quiet and cold, without the VISR to light the way Daniels had to resort to the flashlight at the end of his assault rifle barrel

Taking point, the battered ODST leader lead his squad closer to the Bridge, on the way they'd have to cross the weapons room, they could gear up there

What happened in the time they were gone? Specifically, they had no idea if any of their other friends were okay; or even why the Pegasi were in Covenant armor, was this a draft or a voluntary thing?

Daniels pushed all that aside, right now was the important part. There was no time to speculate, he'd have to cross those bridges later.

Harvest had his back covered, while he hit the button to open the weapons room

"Well, this place is a dump." Young commented

"Ransacked" Daniels tasted something sour, if they couldn't gear up here they were as good as dead

"Hang on, Tatyana's marking up some readings." Harvest tapped his helmet, "There may be gear in here we can use."

Daniels didn't waste time, placing his rifle down he began to sift through the trash and weird deformed armor

"What's this thing?" Young repositioned a piece of armor Daniels discarded, "It looks like it's meant for Equine."

Daniels paused to take a look at it, "You're right, who would be developing this? We're the only ones who can develop new things here."

"Unless Twilight magically grew fingers" Harvest cracked

Daniels shook that disturbing image from his mind, before pulling a helmet from the rubble, it'd hold better than his current one at least

Harvest gave Daniels some new elbow braces, a swapped pair of gauntlets and some new pads, even the under-suit of his armor needed a replacement

After the exchange, the newer blue VISR sprung to life, giving all of his new armor specs and a small picture of a woman in a UNSC uniform appeared in the bottom right corner

"_Finally_,_ I can actually tell you what I found in the databases._" Tatyana said, "_Unsurprisingly, you three have been listed as KIA, but who filed these logs?_"

"We should check the bridge" Daniels sheathed a new knife into his thigh holster for such a weapon

Harvest clipped the sniper rifle to his back, "This armor's pretty comfortable."

Young swung her battle rifle around the corridor behind them, as Harvest activated the switch letting them into the Bridge

As the trio spread about the room, Daniels noted the damage in the systems that appeared to have crippled the ship, Young held up a holovid from the captain's chair

"_Slot it in, see what you've got._" Tatyana suggested

[…]

A hologram of an ODST appeared, the familiar armor setup matched, despite all the damage done to the suit, Captain Alex Smith, the Alpha Team leader was before them

"_I don't have much time to explain this_" he said, "_The Covenant nearly have this planet, Joseph and his squad are dead, and if you've found this…_" the captain took a deep breath, "_Then everything is in danger, the only safe place now is the Bastion, a special setup of defensive forces that are opposing the Covenant, with the technology of this ship I've equipped the Equestrians as best I can, but unfortunately my time is up._"

An explosion was heard, the captain nearly fell over, and regaining his balance he looked urgently towards the camera

"_Make it to the Bastion if you can, the information is on the holo-disc. And if the impossible is true, then Joseph…_" he took off his helmet, his black hair matted and his brown eyes burning, "_With the power invested in me by the UNSC, I hereby anoint promote you to Captain Daniels, your new medal is in the quarters. God have mercy on you, and save Equestria._"

The hologram winked out as the holovid finished

[…]

Daniels was left absolutely speechless, the entire Alpha team was wiped out? Harvest had gone out to grab the medal, while Young stayed and tinkered with the ship's sensors

"The Bastion is supposed to be quite a ways northwest of here" she said, "We'll need a quicker method than walking."

Harvest came back into the bridge, "He wasn't kidding; Joseph's now a Captain."

Daniels took the medal numbly, if the danger wasn't the constant in his life it was definitely the Alpha Team beating his squad in terms of importance and diligence, now the war had taken even them away

"I know it's hard" Young said, "The war's taken nearly everything from everyone."

"It's strange to say…" Daniels gulped the lump in his throat, "But…Alex was the one person who I'd known the longest, and he was practically as much my friend as any Equestrian."

"And we'll honor him the same way we honored everyone else" Harvest slapped his hands together, "We've got your back."

Daniels looked at Harvest, sudden and unusual doubts in his mind, but he cleared them away, "Right, let's lock and load; troopers."


	3. Gearing Up

Chapter 3

They had gone into the belly of the metal monster, the same place they had gone before, seven years ago

She waited as they exited, now looking like newer versions of themselves, something bright was shining within them, and again she was compelled to follow

[…]

"The train station seems too obvious" Daniels said, "And we can't exactly fly a ship over there."

Young looked up, trying to spot any new air patrols, "We should head over to the library, see if Twilight's left anything for us to find."

Harvest shook his head, "Walking into a town that was recently swarming with Covenant doesn't seem to be a good idea when we're heading out to a place the Covenant don't want us to be."

"Especially when we've got the Artifact to protect" Daniels agreed, "We'll have to suck it up and walk to the Bastion."

"Fine, we'll walk." Young sighed, "But if this is a hoax you two are toast."

Daniels led the helm, as the trio began to travel by the edges of the Everfree forest, something was shining in the furthest reaches that they could see; Harvest grimly identified it as glass. Over the course of the next few days they camped, ate, and had traveled a great length; however this was nothing compared to the dangers that were soon to pose

Daniels stared into the embers of the campfire as it slowly died, after several days of travel it had appeared as if they were no closer to their objective, the only difference that could be spotted was that it became gradually closer the further north they went

Although it was late, he didn't find it in him to sleep just yet, he had to take a better look around the camp

Something caught his eye, glinting in the fading lights of the fire, stretching out to reach it he had found a holovid canister, these were ancient technology, the year 2024 if he had to guess

Harvest rolled over, "What's on it?"

"We should pop it in" Young said, "Could be directives."

"_Directives from who?_" Tatyana said, surprising all of them; she had been significantly quieter since the jump, "_It's not as if we've got anyone looking for us._"

Daniels ignored them and inserted the holovid canister into the display, footage from someone's helmet was on display

[…]

Smith looked around the weapons room, firmly shaking his head, "I can't do that Twilight, you know what would happen if the Covenant suspected a mass migration on board this thing."

"They'd shoot us out of the sky in seconds" Will asserted, "If we want to get the masses to the Bastion this is not the way to do it."

"You guys can fight them off right?" Rainbowdash smacked her hooves together for emphasis

"You saw what had happened to Joseph and the others" Alex said, "I don't want a repeat of that."

"At least they died honorably" Twilight sighed, "If you're not going to escort the ponies then who will?"

"Abigale is currently leading a small group, they should be fine under her watchful eye." Smith shifted his weight to his other boot

"I still don't see how they're better than the Freak and his friends" Rainbowdash whispered to Twilight

"We'll be moving out shortly" Will said, "Don't get yourselves killed."

[…]

Daniels sat with the numb feeling remaining, "Wonder how many files they've left behind."

Harvest shrugged, "No idea, but if Tatyana can trace them then we've got a way to find out."

"_There's more than enough data, but just three logs._" Tatyana said, "_The next one's further northeast._"

"Everyone should get some shuteye" Young suggested, "I don't want to be tired the next encounter we get."

Daniels settled in, but several burning questions remained

Did any members of the Alpha Team survive? Why were there only three left in that holovid? Were his friends safe?

He fell into a fitful night's sleep

[…]

His face felt as if he'd been punched, something wet dripped from his face and his shoes were dragging along the floor

Vision came back slowly, as the pounding in his ears began to subside he could feel that he was being hoisted by his upper arms by large hands

Where was he? He could feel cold metal through his tattered sneakers, as he moved his head to the side he could see that he was being dragged by two Apes

"The little offspring move" the Ape to his left noted in rough English, "Maybe stronger than we think."

"Rougher meat to tear" the Ape to his right rebutted

He looked back down, he was in a dark blue T-shirt matted with blood stains, jeans were rough against his legs and his green shoes were stained and torn up

"He put up fight" Lefty pressed, "Already more than others."

Righty just grunted

Where was he being taken? The Apes could have killed him already, they must want him to see something.

A metal door opened, and adrenaline began to pump through him, the main chamber in the ship was filled with Apes and dead bodies, being carelessly eaten or thrown around

'All these people' the young boy thought to himself, 'Where's Mom and Dad?'

Several passengers were lined against the wall, where he was to be taken

"Watch mongrel" Righty commanded, "You will enjoy"

The young boy turned to see a woman looking on in horror as two Apes selected her, then she caught sight of him

Her jaw dropped as she screamed, "Joseph!"

[…]

Daniels' eyes shot open, sweat drenched his face and likely other parts of his body as he took the time to calm down

His mission timer said it was around two A.M., he rolled onto his side as he heard the coals of the fire being stirred

Fluttershy had gotten closer to the group, close enough to be inside their small camp, Daniels had forgotten about her following them

"_I saw your brain spike quite a bit while you were asleep_" Tatyana commented, "_Is everything alright?_"

"I'm fine" Daniels said as he sat up to keep watch on the camp

It wasn't long before he lay back down for another shot at getting some form of sleep

[…]

It had happened so quickly, but now he was under the crushing weight of Righty, the sound of bullets tore through the air, along with some loud weapons he couldn't identify

Joseph's throat was dry, his face wet with tears, what he had just witnessed had left a massive hole in his life, he wasn't sure he'd ever get over it

The screams left his ears ringing, he couldn't move his leg and wondered if it had broken, but in the heat of this battle he knew that trying to kill these things would only result in his own death

He laid still, hoping not to attract attention from any unwanted visitors, and attempted to sort out what was going on

His mother had been their choice, he couldn't save her, why didn't he try harder? Now she was gone, leaving a void inside that would likely never be filled

Her screams had been burned into his mind, the stringy texture that he could see in the Apes' teeth, the bones, and all that blood, blood stained the Apes' skin

'That could have been my blood' he thought, then mentally kicked himself for only thinking about his own safety

Righty rustled, stirring him out of his emotions

"I think we've got a live one Sarge!" a man's voice called

Footsteps

"The Brute's dead Private" a female voice said, "Shot clean through the head."

They were military, Joseph realized, then why did he still feel it necessary to play dead?

He felt Righty being picked up, and quickly strapped his belt around the Ape, what had they called it; a Brute?

Luckily he wasn't noticed and the dead Brute was loaded onto some metal gurney, slowly being wheeled away

But where to?


	4. Closer Still

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